Private Peaceful “They’ve gone now, and I’m alone at last. I have the whole night ahead of me, and I won’t waste a single moment of it… I want tonight to be long, as long as my life…” From the battlefields of the First World War, Thomas Peaceful relives memories of his childhood and family life in the countryside. A poignant story of the First World War from master storyteller Michael Morpurgo, Private Peaceful captures the memories of a young First World War soldier awaiting the firing squad at dawn. From his early childhood adventures in rural Devon to the battles and injustices of war that brought him to the front line, Private Tommo Peaceful spends these lonely hours reliving his short but vivid past.
“Gas! Gas!” ‘“Gas! Gas!”
The cry goes up and is echoed all along the trench. For a moment we are frozen with panic. We have trained for this time and time again, nonetheless we fumble clumsily, feverishly with our gas masks.
“Fix bayonets!” Hanley’s yelling while we are still trying frantically to pull on our gas masks. We grab our rifles and fix bayonets.’
“Gas! Gas!” “We’re on the firestep looking out into no-mans-land, and we see it rolling towards us, this dreaded killer cloud we have heard so much about but have never seen for ourselves until now. Its deadly tendrils are searching ahead, feeling their way forward in long yellow wisps, scenting me, searching for me. Then finding me out, the gas turns and drifts straight for me.”
Storytelling challenge... Can you write an exciting scene using one of the techniques from the text? Think of an exciting moment in a story, such as: ● The hero is hiding and danger is coming closer and closer ● An accident is about to happen and it looks unavoidable…
Tell the story to a partner. Try to use either: ● The present tense, as if the scene is happening right now ● Personification – give an object feeling or human intentions